HEMP, THE PLANT THAT CAN SAVE MOTHER EARTH

Footnote 6

Footnote #6:

Included below is the complete text of "New Billion-Dollar Crop,"
Popular Mechanics, Febraury, 1938, followed by "Pinch Hitters for Defense" (12/41) describing Henry
Ford's new auto bodies consisting entirely of plastics made from
vegetables producing cellulose fibers (of which hemp is the most
efficient of all vegetables), followed by an two excerpts from
The Emperor about "Paints and Varnishes" and
"Building Materials and Housing":

NEW BILLION-DOLLAR CROP
Popular Mechanics
February, 1938

AMERICAN farmers are promised a new cash crop with an annual value of
several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has been
invented which solves a problem more than 6,000 years old. It is
hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American products.
Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and manufactured
products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and it will
provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land.

The machine which makes this possible is designed for removing the
fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, making hemp fiber
available for use without a prohibitive amount of human labor.

Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile
strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000
textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody
"hurds" remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more than
seventy-seven per cent cellulose, and can be used to produce more
than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.

Machines now in service in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and other
states are producing fiber at a manufacturing cost of half a cent a
pound, and are finding a profitable market for the rest of the stalk.
Machine operators are making a good profit in competition with
coolie-produced foreign fiber while paying farmers fifteen dollars a
ton for hemp as it comes from the field.

From the farmers' point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and
will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow
corn, wheat, or oats. It has a short growing season, so that it can
be planted after other crops are in. It can be grown in any state of
the union. The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it
in perfect condition for the next year's crop. The dense shock of
leaves, eight to twelve feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. Two
successive crops are enough to reclaim land that has been abandoned
because of Canadian thistles or quack grass.

Under old methods, hemp was cut and allowed to lie in the fields
for weeks until it "retted" enough so the fibers could be pulled off
by hand. Retting is simply rotting as a result of dew, rain and
bacterial action. Machines were developed to separate the fibers
mechanically after retting was complete, but the cost was high, the
loss of fiber great, and the quality of fiber comparatively low.
With the new machine, known as a decorticator, hemp is cut with a
slightly modified grain binder. It is delivered to the machine where
an automatic chain conveyor feeds it to the breaking arms at the rate
of two or three tons per hour. The hurds are broken into fine pieces
which drop into the hopper, from where they are delivered by blower
to a baler or to truck or freight car for loose shipment. The fiber
comes from the other end of the machine, ready for baling.

From this point on almost anything can happen. The raw fiber can
be used to produce strong twine or rope, woven into burlap, used for
carpet warp or linoleum backing or it may be bleached and refined,
with resinous by-products of high commercial value. It can, in fact,
be used to replace the foreign fibers which now flood our markets.

Thousands of tons of hemp hurds are used every year by one large
powder company for the manufacture of dynamite and TNT. A large
paper company, which has been paying more than a million dollars a
year in duties on foreign-made cigarette papers, now is manufacturing
these papers from American hemp grown in Minnesota. A new factory in
Illinois is producing fine bond papers from hemp. The natural
materials in hemp make it an economical source of pulp for any grade
of paper manufactured, and the high percentage of alpha cellulose
promises an unlimited supply of raw material for the thousands of
cellulose products our chemists have developed.

It is generally believed that all linen is produced from flax.
Actually, the majority comes from hemp--authorities estimate that
more than half of our imported linen fabrics are manufactured from
hemp fiber. Another misconception is that burlap is made from hemp.
Actually, its source is usually jute, and practically all of the
burlap we use is woven by laborers in India who receive only four
cents a day. Binder twine is usually made from sisal which comes
from Yucatan and East Africa.

All of these products, now imported, can be produced from home-grown
hemp. Fish nets, bow strings, canvas, strong rope, overalls,
damask tablecloths, fine linen garments, towels, bed linen and
thousands of other everyday items can be grown on American farms.
Our imports of foreign fabrics and fibers average about $200,000,000
per year; in raw fibers alone we imported over $50,000,000 in the
first six months of 1937. All of this income can be made available
for Americans.

The paper industry offers even greater possibilities. As an
industry it amounts to over $1,000,000,000 a year, and of that eighty
per cent is imported. But hemp will produce every grade of paper,
and government figures estimate that 10,000 acres devoted to hemp
will produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of average pulp land.

One obstacle in the onward march of hemp is the reluctance of
farmers to try new crops. The problem is complicated by the need for
proper equipment a reasonable distance from the farm. The machine
cannot be operated profitably unless there is enough acreage within
driving range and farmers cannot find a profitable market unless
there is machinery to handle the crop. Another obstacle is that the
blossom of the female hemp plant contains marijuana, a narcotic, and
it is impossible to grow hemp without producing the blossom. Federal
regulations now being drawn up require registration of hemp growers,
and tentative proposals for preventing narcotic production are rather
stringent.

However, the connection of hemp as a crop and marijuana seems to
be exaggerated. The drug is usually produced from wild hemp or
locoweed which can be found on vacant lots and along railroad tracks
in every state. If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the
public without preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this new
crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.

Popular Mechanics Magazine can furnish the name and address of
the maker of, or dealer in, any article described in its pages. If you
wish this information, write to the Bureau of Information, inclosing
a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

* * * * *

Pinch Hitters for Defense
Popular Mechanics
December, 1941

Over in England it's saccharine for sugar; on the continent it's
charcoal "gasogenes" in the rumble seat instead of gasoline in the
tank. Here in America there's plenty of sugar, plenty of gasoline.
Yet there's an industrial revolution in progress just the same, a
revolution in materials that will affect every home.

After twelve years of research, the Ford Motor Company has
completed an experimental automobile with a plastic body. Although
its design takes advantage of the properties of plastics, the
streamline car does not differ greatly in appearance from its steel
counterpart. The only steel in the hand-made body is found in the
tubular welded frame on which are mounted 14 plastic panels, 3/16
inch thick. Composed of a mixture of farm crops and synthetic
chemicals, the plastic is reported to withstand a blow 10 times as
great as steel without denting. Even the windows and windshield are
of plastic. The total weight of the plastic car is about 2,000
pounds, compared with 3,000 pounds for a steel automobile of the same
size. Although no hint has been given as to when plastic cars may go
into production, the experimental model is pictured as a step toward
materialization of Henry Ford's belief that some day he would "grow
automobiles from the soil."

When Henry Ford recently unveiled his plastic car, result of 12
years of research, he gave the world a glimpse of the automobilie of
tomorrow, its tough panels molded under hydraulic pressure of 1,500
pounds per square inch from a recipe that calls for 70 percent of
cellulose fibers from wheat straw, hemp and sisal plus 30 percent
resin binder. The only steel in the car is its tubular welded frame.
The plastic car weighs a ton, 1,000 pounds lighter than a comparable
steel car. Manufacturers are already taking a low-priced plastic car
to test the public's taste by 1943.

* * * * *

6. Paints and Varnishes

For thousands of years, virtually all good paints and varnishes
were made with hemp seed oil and/or linseed oil.

For instance, in 1935 alone, 116 million pounds (58,000 tons)
[National Institute of Oilseed Products congressional testimony
against the 1937 Marijuana Transfer Tax Law] of hemp seed were
used in America just for paint and varnish. As a comparison, consider
that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), along with all America's
state and local police agencies, claim to have seized for all of 1988,
651.5 tons of American-grown marijuana--seed, plant, root, dirt clump
and all.[National Narcotics Intelligence Consumer's Committee, NNICC
Report, 1988 DEA office relase, El Paso, TX, April, 1989.] The hemp
drying oil business went principally to DuPont petro-chemicals.
[Sloman, Larry, Reefer Madness, Grove Press, New York, NY, 1979,
pg. 72.]

Congress and the Treasury Department were assured through secret
testimony given by DuPont in 1935-37 directly to Herman Oliphant,
Chief Counsel for the Treasury Dept., that hemp seed oil could be
replaced with synthetic petro-chemical oils made principally by
DuPont.

Oliphant was solely responsible for drafting the Marijuana Tax Act
that was submitted to Congress.[Bonnie, Richard and Whitebread,
Charles, The Marijuana Conviction, Univ. of Virginia Press, 1974.]
(See complete story in Chapter 4, The Last Days of Legal Cannabis.)

-- Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1992 edition, p. 8.

* * * * *

11. Building Materials and Housing

Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as
4.1 acres of trees (Dewey & Merrill, Bulletin #404, U.S. Dept. of
Ag., 1916), hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed
board, particle board and cor concrete construction molds.

Hemp has been used throughout history for carpet backing. Hemp
fiber has potential in the manufacture of strong, rot resistant
carpeting--eliminating the poisonous fumes of burning synthetic
materials in a house or commercial fire, along with allergic reactions
associated with new synthetic carpeting.

So we can envision a house of the future built, plumbed, painted and
furnished with the world's number one renewable resource--hemp.

-- Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1992 edition, p. 10.

A STRATEGY TO DEREGULATE AMERICAN HEMP

In 1937, a Special Interest Group Got the Cannabis Industry Banned by
Attacking "Marijuana" While Concealing the Many Valuable Uses of the Plant.
Today, a Public Interest Group, BACH, Intends to Deregulate Cannabis by
Promoting "Hemp" and Showing How Everyone Benefits From This Reform.

THE FARMING COMMUNITY is our linchpin, linking the Northwest,
Midwest and South. It is in financial trouble and will be the
first major beneficiary of hemp commerce.

TEXTILE, FUEL, PAPER INDUSTRIES AND MARKETS, MEDICAL AND
RECREATIONAL USERS are concentrated in coastal and urbanized
population centers.

SHIPPING, INVESTORS, COMMODITIES MARKETS AND BANKS link these
regions, create a role for the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) in deregulating hemp and add to the financial pressure
for reform.

We anticipate strong resistance in pharmaceuticals and
plastics, where entrenched forces stand to lose a share of the
market when hemp products come into common use.
But this pressure will soon be offset by the support of hemp
industry consumers, investors and workers who benefit from new
spin-off industries.

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

PHASE ONE: ORGANIZATION: Develop and target literature and lobby
campaigns, alert our consituency, explain the economic and social
significance of this reform to potential allies and win "celebrity"
endorsements. We need to demonstrate an interstate supply and demand
network to establish the economic vitality of hemp commerce, thereby
drawing financial and political support and setting the stage for ICC
intervention against state laws that impede trade.

PHASE TWO: PUBLIC RELATIONS: Launch a program of speaking engagements
and advertisments (PSAs and paid) to redefine the hemp debate, sway the
general public and create a climate of support based on people's
self-interest. Our goal is to disassociate hemp from "drugs" and align it
with jobs, prosperity and traditional American self-sufficiency.

PHASE THREE: DEREGULATION: Introduce non-threatening deregulation
legislation, support initiatives/referenda, set up test cases to pursue
legalization through the courts and use business pressure to win ICC action.

"We are able to inform you that ancient grandfathers, the great stands
of cedar and redwoods, are in danger of extinction by chainsaws. The
maple, chief of trees, is dying from the top down, as was prophesied by
Ganiodaiio, Handsome Lake, in 1799. Great rivers and streams are filled
with chemicals and filth, and these great veins of life are being used
as sewers.

"We were told the female is sacred and carries the gift of life as our
Mother Earth, the family is the center of our life and that we must build
our communities with life and respect for one another.

"We were told the Creator loves children the most, and we can tell the
state of affairs of the nation by how the children are being treated.

"When we return to Onondaga, we will begin our Great Midwinter
ceremonies. We will tie the past year in a bundle and give thanks once
again for another year on this earth.

"This was given to us, and we have despoiled and polluted it. If we are
to survive, dear friends and colleagues, we must clean it up now or suffer
its consequences.

. . . But Lyons also remembered turning to Leon Shenandoah, chief of
the Grand Council of the Six Nations Confederacy. "My chief, he doesn't
say much, but I asked and he said, `They're not taking it serious enough.
I don't think they realize what's going to happen to them. What's coming.'
He would have liked to see less posturing. We have our prophecies. We
know what is coming down the road.'"

-- Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, on the Global Forum he
helped organize on Environment and Development for
Survival held in Moscow, January 15 to 19, 1990.